When you adopt the online route to pursue profitable activity in retirement you eliminate the bulk of the hassles connected with setting up an offline business. Even so, you will still need to embark on a prescribed learning curve (and that’s what the next 27 chapters are all about) but it’s a lot more fun. All things considered, online is the faster, easier, less stressful route to take for retirees who wish to add to their basic income. Your virtual store can be any size you like – as big as the biggest mall in New York City – and there is no limit on the amount of products you can offer: the range can be infinite.

And how’s this for a list of inbuilt advantages when you deal in digitised produce?

• 1.Minimal start-up costs.
• 2.Work your own hours.
• 3.24-hour trading.
• 4.Open 365 days a year.
• 5.Marketplace: the planet Earth.
• 6.Level playing field even if your website consists of a solitary page.
• 7.Automatic order taking.
• 8.Automatic payment processing.
• 9.Instant delivery of produce.
• 10.Instant shopper satisfaction.

• 11.No customer interfacing.
• 12.No premises.
• 13.No rent.
• 14.No commercial rates.
• 15.No staff.
• 16.No wages.
• 17.No stock.
• 18.No creditors.
• 19.No debtors.
• 20.No shipping.
• 21.Opportunity to create passive income online.

We haven’t even scratched the surface, but don’t you already get the feeling that the online route sounds faster, easier and less stressful?

TRIM START-UP COSTS TO THE BARE MINIMUM

You can start an online retirement business for next to nothing when you trade in digitised merchandise. Apart from your domain name (and this comes dirt cheap nowadays) your only other basic start-up costs comprise page creation tools and website hosting, but I’ll show you in Chapter 16 how to obtain all three in a unique piece of software that offers a great deal more besides. I’ll also direct you in Chapter 23 to another software tool that will produce your initial e-produce for free.

SET WORKING HOURS TO SUIT YOUR NEW LIFESTYLE

For many retirees this is the single most attractive aspect of running an internet business. If you feel like working 10 hours on a given day you can do so; if you feel less energetic, then you set the schedule to suit yourself; one hour, two or three – or take the day off and apply yourself to other interests. There is no requirement for you to be strapped to your computer because, as you will discover as you progress in your studies, almost everything connected with the enterprise can be set to automatic pilot.

HOW YOUR WEBSITE CAN TAKE ORDERS WHILE YOU SLEEP

The automation I just referred to can be positioned to accept orders electronically every second of every day and every night. We’ll examine your options in Chapter 30 where I will also let you in on my favourite order-taking software; how it works; how inexpensive it is to operate – and why it is the perfect solution for the small online business dealing exclusively in digitised produce.

WHY THERE’S 365 DAY NON-STOP TRADING IN CYBERSPACE

It can’t help it. The internet is always open; it doesn’t even close down for a quick breather. It ignores public holidays and it never takes a vacation.

• Can you imagine the scope this unique marketing opportunity presents in your pursuit of a profitable retirement?
• Can you envisage how vast the cyberspace marketplace will become when within the next few years the 55 million existing customer base will be extended by many millions more as Asian users kick in?
• Can you think of any offline business that is faster, easier and less stressful?
• Can you see now why so many of today’s retirees are turning to the internet as the route to take to add to basic income?

It gets even better when you learn how to combine both online and offline in promoting your ideas. I’ll show you how I do it in a later chapter.

HOW YOUR LOCAL STORE DOES BUSINESS INTERNATIONALLY

The local store housed in your computer is contained in a microchip measuring less than half the size of a postage stamp and yet it has the power to reach across the globe and do business internationally. You can’t see how this would be of much use to you? Then allow me to illustrate from my own experience. Eighteen months ago I launched an information product that was intended for local writing groups. What do I find a year and a half on? 92 per cent of downloads are from the USA, seven per cent from the European Union, and only one per cent from the UK. There’s a logical reason for this which we’ll discuss in some detail in the penultimate chapter.

HOW YOU’LL COMPETE WITH THE MOGULS ON EQUAL TERMS

Providing the virtual stall you set up is of the highest standards (and there is no problem in attaining these) then you will be competing on equal terms with the major dot coms. You could be operating your little empire from a desk in your living room overlooking the village green, but no one will ever know. That’s the beauty of online trading: anonymity. It provides a level playing field for everyone and no one can steal a march on you because by the time you have finished reading this book you will know how to access the same marketing tools the moguls use – and they will work for you even if your site consists of a solitary sales page.

WHY AUTOMATIC ORDERING EASES THE STRAIN

When people visit your website and review your digitised information produce or software they make one of four decisions:

• 1.They buy on the spot.
• 2.They decide to move on and find something better, cheaper – or for free.
• 3.They decide to come back again later for a second look.
• 4.They decide they’re not interested.

When they decide to buy on the spot (or return later to buy) they want the merchandise immediately and they want it without any hassle. With automatic ordering they can have what they want because the entire transaction takes only seconds.

WHY AUTOMATIC PROCESSING GETS THE CASH IN FAST

Virtual transactions get the cash in fast because the process is fully automatic:

• Customer produces credit card details online.
• Transaction is authorised.
• Sale receipts are deposited in your virtual account.

You will need a facility to accept credit cards because without one you will miss out on 90 per cent of the potential sales for your e-produce. I will give the two best options in Chapter 30.

HOW DELIVERING PRODUCE INSTANTLY CREATES GOODWILL

Online it’s win-win all round. The customer gets the produce, you get the cash, and you both get what you want instantly. A bond is created and in retail parlance that equals goodwill. How you use it is your business, but you would do well to nurture its power.

WHY CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MEANS MORE SALES

The most productive avenue for future sales will always remain the list of customers who previously bought from you and were happy with the purchase. The potential here for additional sales far outstrips any strategy you might put in place to attract new business.

WHY VIRTUAL CUSTOMER INTERFACING REDUCES STRESS

In an offline business, customer interfacing can prove arduous. It is ongoing and covers issues such as product information, demonstration, general enquiries, and complaints. Virtual interfacing eliminates the stress. Answers or directions covering most customer issues can be hosted in a web page devoted to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

SIX WAYS YOU’LL SAVE ON OPERATING COSTS

• 1.You don’t need premises therefore you pay neither rent nor commercial rates.
• 2.You don’t need staff therefore you won’t have a wages bill.
• 3.You don’t have to carry stock therefore you won’t incur depreciation costs.
• 4.You won’t have creditors therefore you save on accounting costs.
• 5.You won’t have debtors therefore you don’t have to fund transactions.
• 6.You won’t be shipping produce therefore you won’t have freight charges.

CREATING PASSIVE INCOME ONLINE

When you go online for your profitable retirement pursuit you also open the door to creating passive income as we shall discover in the next chapter.